Geez... I'm sorry, but I hate artists who only provide clips. Either be really cool and provide one mp3, or at least stream a song or two. James is a cool guy (or at least, I assume so, never met him), but I'm not buying this thing unless I get a decent listen.

Also, why is an American artist selling his album for pounds, not dollars?

nathanieletc $20 = £10 Which is about spot on for an album CD here. I can't see him dropping the price and I don't actually see why he should. As he is also highly unlikely to upload whole tracks to listen to I guess the price is irrelevant to you anyway.

For unsigned artists who are self-financing a small number of copies of their own album, $20 or $25 is average. It's not like it's being mass-marketed with millions of copies to help defray costs. He doesn't even get radio airplay.

And what does it matter how much it costs, since you already said you weren't buying it anyway unless he gives you a full track or two.

deanna b, I have purchased plenty of CD's from unsigned and independent artists. They are more likely to charge $10 than Wal-Mart!

Also, I understand that 10 pounds is average for a CD in the UK, but in the US, it's about 10-15 bucks.

I've got absolutely nothing against James Marsters the person... I think Spike is awesome and I can't wait for the next season of Torchwood, but this is the kind of business model that will only get purchases from folks who are already fans. If you want to attract people who don't know your stuff online, you need to offer a few tracks to at least stream (does he have a Myspace with music?) or else no one has a reason to buy something.

I'm trying not to make this a rant, instead to just express my views on CD prices and independent musician business models. Also, I don't want to start a flamewar or anything, so I'll not post here anymore and let you go back to discussing the clip. Please don't hate me... I am a fan, I just don't pay $20 for CD's I've never heard.

nathanieletc Don't hate you at all, why would I. I don't get why you even mention the price though, when you've already said you wont be buying it based on the clip. That's all.

I'm not in business so I'm certainly not going to second guess the guy. But bare in mind he's got less than a hundred copies of his debut album left. He must be doing something right. Right? Plus, let's not forget this isn't his day job.

And don't forget the old saying "Why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free." Now that's bad business. ;0)

Also, I've never heard every track of an album before I've bought it. Maybe a few singles off it, but never the whole thing. "You pays your money, you takes your chance."

So how do you explain the billion songs sold on iTunes with only 30 second clips? I know I've purchased songs and albums based on the snippets without hearing the full version.

I have a hard time calling a business plan short sighted based on JMLive putting up a 17 second music clip when the CD isn't even ready to ship yet and we have no idea of what kind of promotion they plan to do.

I didn't think the clip was necessarily aimed at attracting new fans in the first place but maybe more a matter of whetting the appetite of the fans who are already familiar with JM's music and are impatiently awaiting its release.

As for taking a lead from Radiohead I await to see if any other act does and even if Radiohead ever does it again. I suspect the economics requires a certain level of fandom that JM will almost certainly never have for his music.

To answer roadrunner's question, there is a list of tracks somewhere, I just can't remember where. It may be on JMLive or James' U.S. site, I'm not sure. And most every song that was even being considered for this CD is up on YouTube, from the concert at DragonCon. Some snippets, a number of entire songs, varying levels of sound quality, but they are there. Unless they've been removed. :)